


Open Heart

by Sweetferret



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hospital, Fluff, Light Angst, M/M, Minor Matt Holt/Shiro
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-29
Updated: 2018-03-29
Packaged: 2019-04-14 15:52:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14139354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sweetferret/pseuds/Sweetferret
Summary: If you're an adult, you have a lot of constant changes to accept.If you're a doctor you have many responsabilities to face.If you're Lance... add to all that the weight of a friends with benefits deal plus the growing feelings for said friend.





	Open Heart

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ainu](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ainu/gifts).



> Hi! I have had the idea of a hospital au with the Voltron cast for over a year now, so when the moment to plan Ainu's birthday fic came i couldn't resist to bring a tiny part of that universe to life.  
> I'm sorry for taking so long Ainu! You're amazing!!!

Despite being young, the long hours spent in the hospital leave a mark on Lance’s body. He’s good at hiding them though, the physical toll masked with skin care routines and a charismatic personality, but the internal marks, usually easy to ignore, can be bothersome sometimes. 

Luckily, he has that part covered. 

“Hunk! My man!” He calls, going into the break room, arms stretched wide as he approaches him. “I need a favor.” He surrounds Hunk’s shoulder with one of them. 

“Need a massage?” He asks cheerfully as he finishes cleaning a cup. 

“You have the best hands in the entire world! And my lower back has been aching since yesterday.” Lance steps back and rubs his waist. 

It’s not an unknown fact that Hunk gives the best massages in the entire hospital, so no one from the pediatric section questions them when Lance leans over the armrest of the sofa and Hunk puts his hands over his back, moving and rubbing lower until he’s massaging over his tailbone. 

It’s rough at first, hands spreading on both sides as if he were  kneading dough. Then it softens, the point of pressure changing from the  palm to the thumbs, circling over his lower back. 

“Hmm, so good,” Lance mumbles. “You’re the best…” 

Hunk doesn’t answer, focused on his task, but Lance can sense the grin on his face, so he continues mumbling compliments, enjoying every moment. 

As soon as Lance feels his hips lighten Hunk starts moving his thumbs up and down, slower and slower until he stops. Then, Lance straightens and stretches, moving his torso to both sides before resting his arm on Hunk’s shoulders again. 

“That was amazing! I feel like new.”

Both go leave the break room soon after, talking about the weekend  party Lance will hold at his apartment. They get to the nursing station where an unusual person is talking with one of the nurses there.

“Lance, Hunk…” Allura greets, looking at them briefly before reaching for one of the charts on a shelf. 

“Allura, what brings you here?” Lance asks, oblivious to Allura’s flushing pink cheeks, sliding his arm from Hunk’s shoulder to the counter between them. “We’re really far from the ER.”

“I wanted to check on one of your patients, but…” Her eyes leave the pages, focusing on whatever thing they say. “I already did, so I’m leaving.” 

“Hey, remember we have a party on Saturday!” Hunk says before she can walk away. 

“I’ll try to be there,” Allura tells them in a rush, and exits pediatrics in record time.

“That was weird,” Hunk observes, looking toward the doors Allura just crossed. “She’s usually more…”

“Don’t worry about it. She’s probably thinking about some complicated patient. Let’s go check out ours now.”

Hunk nods, but Lance still sees worry in his eyes. He shrugs it off. Unlike him, Hunk always looks to far into things, but he has other things to focus on.

\--- 

Hanging out with his buddies is what Lance misses the most from his college days; beside the ability to stay awake until dawn without a pinch of drowsiness, but that’s  unrelated  . Now, he’s just enjoying the talk and gossip from other departments, complaints and stories that would be perfect for a TV show. 

Shiro waves a hand at Keith’s comment of ‘you should have punched him’ because ‘that’s not ethical, Keith’ even if his face shows a hint of agreement. 

“Then he walked away with his daughter saying she couldn’t be pregnant and won’t come back to this hospital,” he sighs. “Let’s see how he reacts in 5 months.”

“I bet he’ll say she’s the new Virgin Mary, or just call her fat,” Allura says before drinking from her beer. 

Some giggle, others hum, probably remembering other patients like these in the past. 

“I still can’t believe that even after passing out she didn’t want to tell her dad she had sex. Some people are incredible,” Pidge adds, leaning back on the couch she’s sharing with Hunk and Lance. 

There’s silence and everyone take the chance to drink or eat what’s on the low table in the middle of the group. 

They call it a party, but it’s just them hanging out sometimes when their schedules allow it, which happens very rarely these days. So, Lance enjoys every minute of it.

“That reminds me…” Allura hesitates, but continues firmly. “Any of you started dating?” Then, takes another sip of her beer.

Lance chokes on his own drink. Hoping no one noticed, he clears his throat, and drinks again. 

Pidge snorts. “You won’t hear that from me for a long time. Why do you ask? Are you seeing someone?” She wiggles her eyebrows.

“No,” She says, cheeks turning a light shade of red. “I was just wondering… because I saw things.”

“If you mean Shiro and my brother smooching, welcome to the club.” 

As soon as she says this, Matt stands and goes for her. He doesn’t reach her in time, and Pidge manages to jump over the couch and hide behind Allura as all of them gasp. 

“Pidge! You told me you wouldn’t tell anyone!” 

Lance looks at Shiro, who silently covers his eyes with one hand. “Whaaat. I though Matt had a crush on Allura.”

“That was eons ago.” Pidge chuckles. 

“Wait, you two weren’t together before?” Hunk asks, and Matt plops down in Pidge’s spot groaning.

“We have been dating for a couple weeks now,” Shiro finally says, looking up. “We were…  testing it out before, and with Lotor’s ‘no-relationships-between-coworkers’ policy, we didn’t want to raise unwanted attention.”

“Sorry Allura…” Matt groans again.

“No, no. I didn’t see anything. But good for both of you!” She cheers. “The pining was driving me crazy.”

With Matt and Shiro dragging all the attention to themselves, Lance glances at Keith. Their eyes meet, lingering on each other for a few moments before Keith’s dart down. 

He and Keith are in some kind of relationship. He isn’t sure on what step they are, and neither of them have asked, so they’re kind of stuck between hooking up and going exclusive. That along with Lotor’s stupid policy keeps them quiet about the entire thing.

“Then, what did you see Allura?” Matt asks, now that the initial embarrassment disappears. 

“Oh.” She looks at Lance, face turning red, and covers her eyes. “I don’t want to say it, because I want to forget it.”

“You looked at Lance, so what did you do this time?” Pidge accuses him,  flicking him on the back of  his head.

“What?! I haven’t done anything!” He crosses his arms, offended. Since Keith punched him when he tried to kiss him in the hospital, he hasn’t tried to do anything sappy with him there, so Allura must be mistaken.

“You did something. Just look how red Allura is!” Pidge snorts.

“No-o, wrong. Tell them Allura.”

“Sorry Lance, she’s right…” Allura sighs and raises her gaze. Lance gives her a look and she drags a hand over her face. “Remember when I went to check on a patient? Before that I saw you and Hunk… doing… things… in the break room.” 

Everyone goes quiet, turning to look at Hunk and Lance, who are looking at each other with a ‘what things did she see us do?’ expression until they remember what happened and smile, giggles bubbling from their lips. Everyone else stares in wonder as the giggles change to loud and airy laughs. 

“Al –Allu –thou –thought,” Lance chokes out, unable to articulate complete sentences. 

More composed, Hunk explains while he wipes a tear from his eye. “I was giving him a massage, Allura. Nothing else.”

“Eh?” Allura’s eyes grow big.

“Pff, Allura thought they were having sex!” Pidge giggles. “In the break room no less!” 

Allura’s cheeks are cherry red now, and she tries to hide it by l ooking down into her drink. 

“Ye –yes, Hunks gives the best massages in the world,” Lance says, sipping from his drink and letting out a couple more bubbly giggles.

“I wouldn’t say that, but…”

“Hunk, you do, believe me,” Shiro intercedes, rubbing his right arm. “You made my arm feel ten times better.”

“Okay, yeah. I’m the best.” He smiles wide, any traces of modesty gone. 

The conversation continues, laughing, gossiping, until it gets too late, and they have to start leaving. Like always, Hunk is the last one to go, helping to clean a bit before going home. 

Once he’s alone Lance stretches, looking around his mostly clean apartment. Yawning, he walks to the bathroom when his phone buzzes. Lance expects a call from the hospital, but to his surprise it’s Keith. 

“Hello?” 

There’s a moment of silence, and Lance has enough time to think maybe he called by accident when a low voice asks, “Are you alone?”

“Hm? Yeah, Hunk just left.” Lance looks at the hour, it’s almost 3 am. “Don’t you have a shift today?”

“Yes, but I… want to talk to you.”

That’s weird. Being focused and precise is important when it comes to surgery, so Keith is super serious about his hours of sleep. 

“Sure... do you want to talk through here or...?”

“I prefer to come back, if you don’t mind.” Lance furrows his brow at this. Keith left an hour ago. “I’m not too far away.”

“It’s fine, but are you okay?” 

Keith goes silent, but after a few seconds says, “I’ll be there in fifteen,” and hangs up. 

So, Lance is left confused for 15 minutes, and with arms crossed and legs stretched over the couch he waits. He doesn’t let himself speculate or else he’ll get nervous and his confidence will crumble at the sight of Keith. 

When the doorbell sounds, Lance gets startled and rubs his eyes. He had started to nod off. 

“What’s up?” He asks, opening the door and letting Keith in. 

Keith doesn’t say anything until the door is closed. “I’ve been thinking about what happened today.”

Lance waits for him to continue, but Keith  averts his eyes and crosses his arms, frowning. “And that is…?”

“About Hunk and you, it kind of bothered me.” His frown deepens and he adds, “I want to clear things up with you.”

Lance groans. “Keith, I already said it was just a massage. You know my hips have been hurting me, especially when we have sex. We didn’t do anything.” 

“It’s not that… wait, I thought you had gone to see a doctor.” Keith looks up, eyes furrowed in concern this time. 

“Yeah, but she told me to do a bunch of exams and I haven’t had time.” Lance motions to the couch, because he feels this will be longer than he expected. “But if it’s not that, then what is it?” He asks, sitting down. 

“I want to know if…” He hesitates for a moment, biting his cheek in thought, but must come to terms with himself as he speaks again. “Are we together or not?” 

“Of course we are. Do I need to remind you what we did a few days ago?” Lance wiggles his eyebrows, but Keith doesn’t react. 

“No, I mean. Are we together like Shiro and Matt? Or like… all your previous… relationships? Keith has a really concerned expression, and Lance finally gets what all this is about. 

“Oh, oh…” He looks down. “I… don’t know.” 

Keith stays quiet, but Lance can see him moving uncomfortably from the corner of his eyes. 

Lance frowns, deep in thought. Yeah, they’re together… mostly. He has seen other people since they started sleeping together, but never did more than making out. It didn’t feel the same. Keith is caring in his own way, especially when they’re alone. 

A hand on his shoulder distracts him from his thoughts. He turns, but before he realizes it Keith’s lips are on his own, and he tilts his head, eyes closed in contrast to Lance’s surprised ones. His hand slides up Lance’s neck, keeping him close. As the surprise vanishes, Lance relaxes and kisses back, moving one hand to Keith’s cheek. 

He doesn’t get to enjoy it. The warmness  on his lips and hand  disappears, and even if he tries to follow it, his hands fall into empty space. 

“Lance…” Keith says, almost sad, causing Lance to open his eyes and realize he’s not sitting anymore. “Let’s take a break…”

“Kei--” 

Lance doesn’t get to finish, Keith is already closing the door, not giving him a chance to respond. He stares dumbfoundead at the space in front of him until it sinks in. There’s an oppressive feeling in his chest, making every bre ath heavy . 

This isn’t the first time someone has told him they need a break, but this is the first time it hurts, because there’s no other way to describe it. It hurts like hell. 

Feeling like the idiot of the year, Lance tries multiple times to talk with Keith, but without success. All his calls ends in voicemail, and there’s no reply to his texts. His nights are spent between tossing and turning in bed, thinking about how stupid he was for not saying what he felt immediately.

It’s not until a few weeks later that he finally sees Keith in the middle of a break. Lance jogs, calling for him to wait. Keith should have heard him, probably seen him too judging by the way he almost turned, but he continues walking down the hall. So, it’s not completely his fault when he harshly takes Keith’s arm and drags him to a supply closet, and it’s definitely Keith’s fault that they shoot a look of utter hatred at each other.

“Lance, I don’t have time. There’s--”

“What’s up with you? I’ve been trying to talk to you for  _ weeks,  _ but you’ve been ignoring me.” Lance whispers, pushing Keith against a shelf. 

“But  _ I  _ don’t want to talk to  _ you _ , so let me go.” Keith struggles against Lance, but ends up being pinned harder against the  cabinet doors .

“Just… listen. I’ve been thinking.” Lance looks down, but think better of it and holds his gaze on Keith’s glare. “And it wasn’t fair telling you that I don’t know if we’re boyfriends or a casual thing, but until then I hadn’t really thought about where we were… I think that’s because I was really comfortable with you, and it has been a long time since i felt so… attached to someone. When you left saying you wanted a break it hurt, and you probably felt the same when I said I didn’t know but I know now.” Keith’s eyes widen and he stops trying to free himself. “I really like you Keith, and I want to date you…” As he says this, Lance thinks of something and adds, “but if you don’t want to… I guess i can’t force you.” He releases Keith’s arms and steps back, sighing. 

The soft noises from the hall keep silence from taking over the small closet, but there’s still a lingering feeling of awkwardness as the seconds pass and Keith doesn’t speak. Lance wouldn’t blame him if he stormed out given the serious look he’s directing at him. 

“Are you being serious?” Keith finally asks, crossing his arms. 

Lance nods. “Mhm. Very.”

For the first time in weeks, Lance sees that sweet smile that makes his knees weak. He leans closer to kiss him, but a hand on his chest stops him.

“I just have one condition though,” Keith adds, smile gone. Lance straightens and furrows his brow, worried. “Let’s start from zero. Going on dates and stuff before sex. Okay?” 

Lance looks at him, perplexed for a second, thinking about what he heard. That’s more than okay if they’re boyfriends now. He smiles, content. “Of course… can I give my boyfriend a little kiss?” 

Keith snorts. “Yeah, yeah.” 

Lance steps closer and this time Keith meets him in the middle. They kiss shortly, more than a peck on the lips but less than a deep kiss. It’s nice. 

They break the contact, staring at each other like that was their first real kiss, a kiss with a meaning. 

“Ssh, Hunk. Stop,” A hushed voice says outside, breaking the bubble they were in. 

Lance looks at the door as if it was alive, senses slowly coming back to him. Reacting more quickly, Keith walks past Lance and opens it. Hunk almost falls over him, recovering his balance at the last second.

“What the fuck, guys?” Keith asks, frowning slightly at Hunk and Allura. 

“Guys!” Hunk sobs, hugging Keith and grabbing Lance after to embrace both of them. “I’m so happy for you!”

“Don’t look at me like that,” Allura snorts at Keith’s confusion. “Hunk came to me saying you guys were fighting.”

“But this is so much better!” Hunk hugs them tighter. 

After this surprising series of events, Keith makes Allura and Hunk promise they won’t say what they heard to other people, and how could they? The terrifying glare he shoots them does more that his words could. 

Lance continues smiling that day. He knows that adulthood comes with a lot of changes, good and bad, but now he remembered that not all bad changes end badly. They can become amazing opportunities. 

**Author's Note:**

> I write mostly haikyuu!! so if you're interested go to my [shared writing blog](http://foxesandferrets.tumblr.com/)!  
> Or you can talk to me on my [personal tumblr](http://sweetferretxd.tumblr.com/) or [twitter](https://twitter.com/sweetferret) :D


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